‘Modern Family’ Stars Ty Burrell and Julie Bowen on Preventing Meningitis B

Ty Burrell, 58, and Julie Bowen, 56, won over audiences as parents Phil and Claire Dunphy on Modern Family. Now, the former sitcom co-stars have reunited for a more educational project, partnering with GSK on a mockumentary-style campaign designed to encourage parents to talk with their teens’ doctors about meningitis B vaccination.

The clip combines the chemistry and humor that made Burrell and Bowen such a memorable television couple with information about meningitis B vaccination. To learn more about the campaign, Woman’s World spoke with both actors about their partnership, what drew them to the project and whether a Modern Family reunion could ever be in the cards.

Woman’s World: Can you share a little bit about why this partnership felt like the right fit for both of you?

Ty Burrell: We’re parents of teens. Unfortunately, that’s the most vulnerable population, ages 16 to 23.

Julie Bowen: We’re right in that sweet spot. I’ve got two 17 year olds and a 19 year old.

Ty Burrell: And I have a 16 year old. The lifestyle of that age group just makes them vulnerable. It’s close quarters, sharing water bottles, faces, sneezing—you know how much teens love to sneeze on each other.

Julie Bowen: My sister’s an infectious disease doctor, so when GSK approached us, I contacted her. I was, like, “Oh, my kids have already been vaccinated against meningitis, why is this a big thing?” She’s, like, ‘It’s a super big deal. One in 10 people who get meningitis don’t survive, and one in five survivors end up with some lasting effects.”

Ty Burrell: Yeah, like limb loss and brain damage. We’re trying to spread the word and, to that end, we made this video that we hope is an entertaining way to communicate it. We’re encouraging people to have a conversation with their doctors about meningitis risk and about vaccination and whether that’s the right choice for you. One thing that we learned is that all five strains are available for vaccination, but a lot of teens don’t have B. There’s A, B, C, W and Y, a lot of teens don’t have B.

Julie Bowen: It especially gets dicey when you’ve got older teens. My son, who’s in college, his last pediatric appointment was when he was 18, so technically I don’t have access to that data. When I asked him, ‘Did you get a shot?’ he’s, like, “Bruh.” I don’t know how to interpret that. At that age, unless you’ve got an agreement to share documents, which is a whole different conversation, it gets complicated. Start having that conversation with the doctor around the age of 16 and ask what you should do about meningitis B.

When I told my kids about this, they got genuinely a little scared, because my son, Oliver, only got one dose and you have to get two and they have to be by the same company within six months and I had no idea. P.S., I am an uptight person. I didn’t know something like this could just slip through the cracks, and that’s what we really want to warn other people against. Let me be your idiot guide dog. Let me do the tomfoolery so you can save your child.

WW: And the campaign video was great because it’s a more entertaining way to learn and absorb this information.

Julie Bowen: But it is something you do need to talk to your doctor about because, as cute as we are, we are playing doctors. I can’t even say I play a doctor on TV.

Ty Burrell: Have I ever played a doctor? [To Julie] You were on ER.

Julie Bowen: I was an insurance rep. I have no credentials.

Ty Burrell: You got to dodge all that medical lingo.

Julie Bowen: Oh yeah, I definitely dodged it. Got the legal lingo down.

WW: The entire concept of the video really felt like an episode of Modern Family. Did you know coming into this that it would be a spin on your show, or did that idea come later?

Ty Burrell: It’s actually not a spin on the show. It’s just scary how close we are to both people in real life.

Julie Bowen: We get near each other and we just fall into that. But we are really representing ourselves as parents [in the video].

Ty Burrell: It’s terrifying to think that Phil [Dunphy on Modern Family] was written for me, which was the case. It’s really playing on two pretty clueless people but it was very fun to make. It’s a really tight needle to thread creatively to make something funny and entertaining like that and we were in very good hands.

Part of the cool thing about making that video was getting to spend time around some of the advocates who survived meningitis and hearing firsthand how much it has impacted their lives and how passionate they are about it.

Julie Bowen: We get to spend more time with them and ask about their experience, which I’m sure, at the time, was devastating, and how they’ve now turned this into a positive. It’s their life’s work. Meningitis B, as contagious as it is, doesn’t necessarily mean everybody in the room is going to get it if they all share a cup, which is even scarier to me.

WW: It is scary because this is something you don’t often think about. You think about getting the flu, or COVID, but you don’t think about meningitis B.

Julie Bowen: No, it wasn’t on my mind at all. I have all the immunization cards from when I was a baby, because apparently we’re medical hoarders in my family.

Ty Burrell: But all the family photos and Civil War era letters go.

Julie Bowen: A purple heart? No, I mean, who needs it? But, yeah, we do save everything. And I looked and I got the [vaccination] for C, Y and W, and so do my kids. But B wasn’t there, and that’s the one we’re talking about.

Woman’s World: It’s been about six years since Modern Family came to an end. Would either of you ever consider doing a reboot or reunion if it came up?

Ty Burrell: The love is certainly there. It’s a lot of moving parts to try to get people together, but there’s still a very active text thread.

Julie Bowen: People are still really involved. Nolan [Gould] and Ariel [Winter] just became roommates. I think it really depends. We were so lucky, the writing was so strong. It was the scripts that got us so excited, so if the writers had something to say, I think everybody would be behind it. You don’t want to take a precious memory and undo it somehow. But if they had something they wanted to say, I’d be, like, “You bet, I’ll be there.”

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This story was originally published May 26, 2026 at 8:00 PM.